Ocean Blues
by monophobian
Summary: KOGKAG. With her life crumbling down around her, Kagome's only moments of peace are spent on this quiet patch of sand talking to a creature that shouldn't exist. - - - Mermaid AU for AU Yeah August.


_I decided to revisit my old Merman Kouga AU (/post128911997033 on my tumblr) and finally write something to go with it._

* * *

The salt hit her nose before she saw the water. It always did. Kagome would drive down to the quiet shore tucked away from the busier parks, leave her car next to one of the broken meters, smell the water as soon as she opened her car door, and then make her way across the boardwalk and over the dunes before the expanse of blue met her eye.

Blue as far as the eye could see. She'd never get sick of the sight.

The sand wasn't hot yet. Still morning, the sand hadn't had enough time to absorb heat from the sun. She quickly stepped out of her sandals to enjoy the cool temperature against her feet and made a straight shot down the beach until her toes touched water. The water was cold, but refreshing against the growing rays from the sun and she smiled out at the horizon.

One day, she might actually bring a couple friends and enjoy the water.

Turning to the left and away from civilization, she walked through the surf where no trace of her footprints would be left and hurried down the coast.

Kagome didn't think he'd be there yet. She was a bit early and he said he might be free a little later that day, but she hurried anyway. Anything to get away from the mess that her life had grown to be.

It wouldn't have been as bad if she hadn't screwed it up. Granted, she could have done a lot worse than to be followed by Sango, but one discovery was one too many. It wasn't Kagome's life at risk if her secret got out and she absolutely refused to risk _his_. So with that, she had to adjust and if that meant showing up hours before they were supposed to so no one caught a whiff of a schedule and that she had to park her car nowhere near the boardwalk, then so be it.

Still dangerous. It would always be dangerous, but she didn't know how else to make it work.

When she reached the rundown jetty, she couldn't keep from hurrying faster over the dunes. There was a little cove, largely undisturbed thanks to being private property owned by a writer who didn't like to be disturbed, and it was there her eyes were turning to as soon as she crested the hill.

Her heart dipped to see the cove empty.

Stupid, really. She knew she was going to beat him there and yet she _still_ held out a small bit of hope that she was wrong. One of these days, she might actually learn to listen to reason.

With not much left to do, Kagome shed all but her bathing suit, tucked her clothes under some brush, and lost herself in the waves.

…

He didn't show.

Not that day or the next and a week later, Kagome wondered if maybe she was wasting her time. She'd known from the beginning this couldn't last. She had a life to get back to and he had an entirely different world to live in. Nothing had been said — no words spoken, no promises given, no futures planned — and it was only a matter of time before she had to put this little slice of magic behind her.

She just wasn't ready to do that yet.

If she were honest with herself, Kagome didn't think she'd ever be ready. Sitting on a towel on the sand, watching the unchanging horizon, she heaved out a breath. How many hours had she wasted on this spot waiting for the same thing that didn't happen? Too many to even count. All hours she could have spent studying or putting together her appeal or even getting extra hours at work to help her save before the slow summer months took a chunk out of her paycheck.

Instead, she'd let her life drain down the toilet while she stuck her toes in the sand and waited for a miracle.

Still she sat. It didn't matter that unpaid bills were piling up on her counter at home, still sealed in their envelopes. Or that the deadline of her appeal for financial aid was fast approaching and if she didn't get the paperwork in soon, she wouldn't be able to take classes the next semester. And it didn't matter that her boss was getting more and more annoyed at her spotty attendance and her flighty attitude and her dwindling work ethic.

Kagome knew what this was, she'd recognized the signs for months. The only thing keeping her from spiraling into the depths of her depression were chance meetings with a mythical creature she was slowly falling in love with.

…

"Kagome?"

 _Ah, crap_. She'd fallen asleep. And if it took Miroku to find her, she'd been out on the beach for entirely too long. Groaning and pulling herself up from sleep, the darkening sky told her just how long it had been. She was probably burnt to a crisp.

"Kagome?"

That wasn't Miroku.

Turning, she couldn't believe her eyes. Long, tan legs that went on forever, bulky muscle extending over the length of his thigh—

 _He was naked!_

Squeaking, she turned immediately from the very tan, very human, very _naked_ Kouga standing next to her.

"I'm dreaming. I'm totally dreaming." Her heart raced and threatened to beat right out of her chest. "You're naked and human and naked and standing and _naked_ —"

"Well, it's not like I walked out of the surf with clothes on."

Oh God, that was his voice — that was _his voice!_ — he was really there and he was really human and he was really naked.

 _Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh—_

She peeked back up at him, still checking to make sure she was actually seeing what she thought she was seeing and breathed out a sigh of relief to note her extra towel now wrapped around his waist.

"Sorry. I just…" How do you tell someone you've been dreaming about them for months and those dreams have definitely not stood up to reality?

"I shocked you," he finished, gracefully sinking down to sit next to her. "I should have covered before I woke you, I just didn't think about it."

Of course. Before this, that was covered by a _tail_.

"How—"

"I'm sorry I've been gone all week," Kouga interrupted, turning those intense blue eyes onto her. She'd always attributed their depth to the reflection of the water, but with sand underneath them now, Kagome saw she'd been wrong. "I didn't expect it to go this way?"

"It?"

He gestured to his outstretched legs and heat rushed up her face at the reminder of the cut of his hip.

"There have always been tales of a potion that gave us legs," he explained. "Over the last couple moons, I've been hunting down the stories and found that it does actually exist." Kouga's gaze returned to her and Kagome's breath caught in her chest. "I was hoping to surprise you."

Her heart raced and a sudden fear bubble up. "Is it permanent?"

The happiness in his eyes dimmed. "No," he whispered. "I'll be back to the water in seven days."

Relief swept through her, though she didn't know why. She didn't _understand_ why. He was here, he was almost in her arms, he was in her life, and she didn't have to leave him.

"Is there a potion to give me a tail?" she asked, ignoring the puzzling direction her emotions had gone and turning her attention to life beyond the next amazing, magical, unreal week.

He closed right up, his eyes darting over her face before they cast out over the water.

"Kouga—"

"There is." His pause was weighted, heavy over her shoulders. "It's permanent."

 _No going back_.

"Don't worry about that," he hurried, misreading Kagome's silence. "Just spend this time with me. Enjoy this. Have fun. Let me see your world and let me enjoy you in it."

 _Let me remember you_.

She head the unspoken words and nodded, keeping her own surprising, swift, decisive plea silent as well.

 _Take me with you when you go_.

* * *

 _When I first created this au years ago, I had no idea how it would end. Revisiting it here and exploring more of Kagome's character, I was surprised to find a dark layer under her cheerful facade, all focused around this feeling of wasting her life away._

 _So when the idea came of turning her into a mermaid instead of turning Kouga into a human, the pieces suddenly fit together._

 _I love this addition. I love the lost Kagome looking for home. I think it fits her personality well, that she would leave her world behind to join his._

 _Kouga's speech is definitely weird, but changing it seemed wrong. I think mermaid speech patters are probably going to be different considering they don't interact with humans and their grasp of the language is going to come from books. I'm not going to think too much into it, though._

 _Let me know what you think!_


End file.
